Rockets-Raptors Preview

By KEVIN CHROUSTPosted Apr 02 2014 1:24AM

The Toronto Raptors' attempt to hold onto the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference could be made considerably more difficult if one of their top players misses time in the final two weeks of the regular season.

That could be the case Wednesday night when the Raptors host the Houston Rockets with point guard Kyle Lowry's status uncertain after sustaining a knee injury Monday in Miami.

The Rockets, meanwhile, have been trying to chase down the No. 3 seed in the West without one of their top players as Dwight Howard has missed five of the last seven games with an ankle injury.

Lowry remained in the game after suffering the injury in the first half, but left in the second half after scoring 11 points in 26 minutes. He entered the game struggling and has been held to 12.0 points per game on 33.3 percent shooting in his last three.

"He bumped knees," coach Dwane Casey said after the 93-83 loss to the Heat. "It puffed up a little bit. X-rays were negative. We just have to wait and see how he is."

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Toronto (42-32) and, coupled with Chicago's win, dropped it into a tie with the Bulls for the No. 3 seed.

The Raptors shot 50.0 percent for the game but were held to 32 second-half points.

"It was a hard-fought game - basketball at a high level," said Greivis Vasquez, who led Toronto with 17 points off the bench. "We lost it in the third period. We came out too relaxed. We didn't attack the basket. Everything worked for them."

Toronto has won six straight home meetings with the Rockets (49-24), but the only meeting this year was one to forget. The Raptors shot a season-low 33.3 percent and fell 110-104 in double overtime on Nov. 11 in Houston.

Since-traded Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan combined for 51 points but shot 17 of 62 from the field.

Jeremy Lin scored a game-high 31 points off the bench for Houston while James Harden added 26 and Howard had 18 and 24 rebounds.

The Rockets might not have their big man this time around as they try to work through a trio starters. Howard sat out a second straight game in Tuesday's 105-96 loss at Brooklyn, and they were also without point guard Patrick Beverley (torn right meniscus) and small forward Terrence Jones (flu-like symptoms).

Beverley has missed two games but is expected to return this season without surgery.

"We had the same problem early in the season," Harden said. "We thought we were getting over it, getting guys healthy and getting into mojo and a groove. Three of our starters are out now so we've just got to figure out a way to get through it. We'll be alright."

Harden scored a team-high 26 points while Omer Asik, starting for Howard, had 12 and a career-high 23 rebounds. But Houston shot 38.1 percent and fell three games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for third in the West.

Injuries or not, coach Kevin McHale wants to see more accountability and execution out of his players to avoid a third straight loss.

"It doesn't make any different who's out," McHale said. "We've got to play … Everybody's got to play better."

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

DeRozan leads Raptors past Rockets 107-103

By IAN HARRISONPosted Apr 02 2014 11:06PM

TORONTO (AP) Kevin McHale was talking about the challenges of re-engineering an offense missing three starters, but he might as well have summed up the state of the struggling Houston Rockets.

"We're all jumbled up right now," McHale said.

DeMar DeRozan scored 29 points, Jonas Valanciunas and Greivis Vasquez each had 15 and the Toronto Raptors won their seventh straight home meeting with Houston, beating the Rockets 107-103 on Wednesday night.

McHale, who called his team "jumbled" before they faced Toronto, had little left to say after Houston's third straight defeat.

"We let up defensively," a terse McHale said. "We were terrible. We let them do whatever they wanted to do."

James Harden scored 26 points and Chandler Parsons had 20 for the Rockets, whose slide has come on the heels of a five-game winning streak.

"We're a team that's desperate for a win right now," Jeremy Lin said.

Houston's next chance at victory comes Friday, when they host Oklahoma City.

Harden used the world "tough" eight times in less than two minutes as he assessed Houston's plight.

"We've got to figure out a way to get through it," Harden said. "All the good teams this season have had their struggles. Ours is coming late in the season and we've got to figure it out."

Terrence Ross scored 14 points and John Salmons had 12 as the short-handed Raptors won for the fourth time in five games.

Toronto was without point guard Kyle Lowry, sidelined with a sore left knee. Lowry, who's averaging 17.4 points and 7.6 assists, injured his knee in a collision with LeBron James in the second quarter of Monday's loss at Miami.

Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Lowry's knee was still swollen, but tests had shown no structural damage.

With Brooklyn losing to the Knicks, Toronto moved 2 1-2 games ahead of the Nets atop the Atlantic Division. The Raptors remain tied with Chicago, who beat Atlanta Wednesday night, for the third seed in the Eastern Conference.

"Every win is great for us right now for what we're trying to do, especially with Kyle out and Amir out," Casey said. "Hopefully it gives our guys some confidence."

The Rockets hurt themselves by missing eight of 30 free throw attempts, including five misses in the fourth quarter.

"We didn't play hard for periods," McHale said. "We took it easy, we gave guys too much room."

Lin scored 16 points and Donatas Motiejunas had 13 for the Rockets, who could have clinched a playoff spot with a win and a loss by either Memphis or Phoenix.

Houston's Dwight Howard sat for the sixth time in eight games with a sore left ankle. Howard had a second injection on his troublesome ankle Tuesday.

Terrence Jones started for Houston after missing Tuesday's loss at Brooklyn with flu-like symptoms, but missed all four shots he took in 10 first half minutes and did not return after the break.

The Rockets were also without guard and regular starter Patrick Beverley (right knee) for the third straight game.

Ross gave Toronto a six-point edge with a 3 at 4:06 and, just over two minutes later, DeRozan stole a pass from Parsons and fed Valanciunas for a layup, putting the Raptors up 105-97.

Lin made a 3 with 8 seconds left, cutting it to 106-100, and Toronto almost turned over the inbounds pass before Vasquez recovered the ball.

"As close as it gets," Lin said when asked how close Houston had come to getting the steal. "I thought we had it and we didn't come away with it."

Instead, Vasquez came up with the ball and was fouled, making one of two before Isaiah Canaan missed a last-second 3 for the Rockets.

DeRozan played the final three minutes with a bandage on his left hand after he suffered a cut on his palm while fouling Omer Asik. Once the game was over, DeRozan needed several stitches to close the gash.

"I looked down and my whole hand was soaked," DeRozan said of the wound, which left blood spattered across the court.

Toronto took another hit when forward Amir Johnson left with a sore right ankle less than three minutes into the opening quarter. Johnson did not return.

NOTES: Vasquez started in place of Lowry. ... Toronto finished 16-14 against Western Conference opponents. It's the first time since the 1999-2000 season that Toronto has been .500 or better against the West. ... Asik led Houston with 15 rebounds. ... Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson is expected to leave the team to accept the head coaching job at the University of Houston. "We'll all miss him, he's been a great addition," McHale said. ... Toronto is 31-2 when leading after three quarters, including 18-0 at home.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Raptors 107, Rockets 103

THE FACT: With the win, the Raptors finish their schedule against Western Conference teams with a record of 16-14. This is the first time since the 1999-2000 season that the Raptors have been above .500 against the West.

THE LEAD: DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 29 points and added six rebounds and four assists to lift the Kyle Lowry-less Toronto Raptors (43-32) past the also undermanned Houston Rockets (49-25) 107-103 at the Air Canada Centre on Friday night.

Five players scored in double-figures for the Raptors, who desperately needed a total team effort, playing without Lowry and Amir Johnson, who left the game in the first quarter with an injury.

James Harden led the Rockets once again with 26 points, four assists and four rebounds while Chandler Parsons had 20 and seven rebounds. Jeremy Lin pitched in 16 points and seven assists, starting in place of the injured Patrick Beverley.

The Rockets found themselves down by as many as 20 points midway through the third quarter but did not quit, using a barrage of threes to spark a 29-10 run that pulled them within a single point. That is as close as the Rockets would get as they ran out of gas playing on the second night of a back-to-back.

QUOTABLE: "They are our leaders, we go as they go and everybody else understands that. This is why we have a healthy locker room... We know what's going on. Those two guys are going to score, those two guys are going to make winning plays for us and we just have to feed off their energy. And when either one of those guys go down we've got their back. That's what this team is about. We've got their back on and off the court. This is not a fluke, man. We earn wins and we earned a win tonight."-- Greivis Vasquez on Lowry and DeRozan.

THE STAT: The Raptors held the Rockets to just 5-of-17 shooting from the floor and 2-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arch in the fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT: The Rockets cut the Raptors' 20-point down lead to one, 92-91 and had them reeling midway through the Fourth. DeRozan responded with a jumper and an assist, finding a wide open Terrence Ross for a layup to spark a 13-5 run to close out the game and seal the win for the Raptors.

QUOTABLE II: "With Kyle [Lowry] not being able to go and Amir [Johnson] giving what he could for the first few minutes of the game, guys stepped up. These are the most minutes that Greivis [Vasquez] has played all year, Patrick [Patterson] came back from injury and played big minutes and guys stepped in and stepped up."-- Raptors head coach Dwane Casey on his undermanned team stepping up

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Harden has scored 20 or more points in 14 of his last 16 games. During this stretch he is averaging 26.8 points, 6.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds.

HOT: DeRozan has now scored 15 or more points in 13 of his last 14 games. He scored 20 or more in eight of his last 10 and has shot above 50 per cent in two straight games.

NOT: Raptors guard John Salmons scored 14 points on the night. That was his highest point total in 26 games.

QUOTABLE III: "We just couldn't get stops; the basketball was stuck on the offensive end; turnovers, it was a variety of things that gave them easy points." -- James Harden on his team's play in the fourth

GOOD MOVE: The Raptors trailed 21-10 with 3:17 remaining in first quarter when Casey went to the bench, bringing in Salmons and Tyler Hansbrough. This sparked the Raptors on a 17-4 run to take retake the lead.

NOTABLE: Raptors forward Amir Johnson left the game in the first quarter after rolling his ankle and did not return... Dwight Howard (ankle), Patrick Beverley (knee) and Charles Smith (knee) all missed the game for the Rockets. Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik started in place of Howard and Beverley...Raptors starting point guard Kyle Lowry (knee) did not play. Greivis Vasquez started in his place... Casey earned his 100th win as coach of the Toronto Raptors. That places him third all-time in franchise history...Toronto FC midfielder Dwayne De Rosario took the game in from the stands... The final attendance at the Air Canada Centre was 18,294